Ninety One is aggressively shrinking its public equity base across two continents. The dual-listed asset manager, steering through a notable operational turnaround under Chief Executive Hendrik du Toit, has quietly poured £20.9 million ($27.8 million) into London market buybacks since June, accelerating capital returns to institutional shareholders.

The capital sweep broadened this month to South Africa. Filings published Monday show the Anglo-South African investment firm deployed £0.85 million ($1.13 million) on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange after greenlighting a parallel repurchase offensive. Broker J.P. Morgan Equities South Africa scooped up 181,476 shares on Friday alone at R44.42 each.

Fueling the double buyback

The JSE trades stem from a formal mandate granted to J.P. Morgan units on Oct. 1, backed by shareholder approval secured at the annual general meeting in July. The mandate runs across both trading hubs, ensuring du Toit’s executive team can tap liquidity pools in London and Johannesburg simultaneously.

In London, buying momentum surged over five straight trading sessions last week. Between Oct. 12 and Oct. 16, Ninety One picked up 644,144 shares via J.P. Morgan Securities, averaging between 199.7 pence and £2.065 daily. The steady intervention reflects deliberate support for its secondary market paper.

Unlike asset managers that park repurchased equity in reserve vaults to offset employee stock awards, Ninety One plans to cancel every acquired share. The maneuver permanently retires stock, instantly boosting the ownership percentage and underlying earnings power tied to each remaining share held by continuing portfolio investors.

Cleaning up share capital

Following the cancellations, Ninety One holds zero shares in treasury, leaving exactly 658,426,365 ordinary shares in circulation. That figure gives institutional holders their baseline denominator to evaluate statutory disclosure thresholds enforced by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority under transparency rules, keeping big institutional stakes cleanly accounted for.

The assertive share retirements arrive alongside a sharp recovery in the firm’s balance sheet fundamentals. Founded in South Africa in 1991, the investment house recently posted a 12 percent rise in full-year adjusted operating profit, energized by an institutional rebound and stabilizing core active strategies.

Assets under management surged 31 percent to £171.8 billion ($230.8 billion) for the financial year through March 31, up from £130.8 billion ($175.5 billion) previously. A transformative alliance with African financial services giant Sanlam provided an immediate £18.3 billion ($24.5 billion) injection of managed client books.

Halting heavy client redemptions

Crucially, the manager stemmed prolonged institutional outflows that plagued active managers through volatile rate cycles. The firm generated £2.8 billion ($3.75 billion) in fresh net inflows, reversing the punishing £4.9 billion ($6.57 billion) in client withdrawals logged across the prior financial year as allocators returned.

With positive fund flows restored and Sanlam’s book absorbed, the sustained share repurchases signal internal confidence in cash generation. Rather than hoard surplus liquidity, leadership is channeling cash back to the market, tightening its free float while active management margins show early signs of cyclical repair.